With a lot of businesses taking advantage of creating a web and mobile presence to further promote their goods and services, many desire an even easier way for their audience to find said business, and, subsequently, shop online. That’s where local SEO comes in, as an effective way to seize a potential customer’s online browsing, and use it to your advantage, so they find your business, not your competitors.
But, what exactly is local SEO, and how can you make it work for your dealership to earn more business? Read on and find out just that, as we go through all that makes up what local SEO is, including Google Business Profile optimization, citation management, review responses, local on-page keyword content and more. See how we at EDealer can simplify the process for you!
What Is Local SEO?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, takes your online presence to the next level by making it easier for search engines to crawl your website and be more visible in those search engine results for users (hopefully above your competitors!). As a part of an SEO strategy, local SEO concerns optimizing your website, profiles and listings across the web to be best served and populated for the potential customers in your direct area. Let’s break down some of the top tactics you need to have in order for a local SEO strategy that will win in today’s world.
Google Business Profile Management
If the information on your Google Business Profile, as well as other online dealership profiles, is incorrect, it can be even more difficult for people to find you locally, and trust who you are. As such, this is a great starting point for those who want to make the most of local SEO. Keeping an eye that the information in your Google Business Profile is always correct, along with ongoing updates to all the features present on the profile, like responding to Q&As, posting Updates featuring your latest deals or additions to your inventory and responding to reviews, can be a great way to show that you have an active online presence, and that you’re in touch with your customers online.
Local Citations
Your website and Google Business Profile are not the only few places on the web where your business name, address and phone number live. These important details about your business can be found on countless directories and listing sites, and must all be matched and correct for users, search engines and AI models to understand your business online, and be able to connect. Social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, etc.), auto information sites, and more will have information about your dealership so that potential customers can locate you. As such, paying attention to local citations like these and using them to your advantage (notice you’re not on a popular listing site? Now is the time to change that) can help to further boost your online presence.
Review Responses
I mentioned this above in the Google Business Profile section, where reviews play a part, but it’s such an important part of local SEO that it deserves its own section. The reputation and trustworthiness of your business online plays a crucial role in not only how it is perceived, but also the likelihood of it being served higher in search results. Responding to reviews (both good and bad!) goes a long way in building said trust for not only potential customers looking at your website reviews, but also to search engines and AI models that you are engaged with the people that matter most to your business online.
Local Keyword Inclusion & Page Optimization
Content is the crux of your website, both with informational landing pages and educational blogs, but it’s not good enough to make some boiler-plate content and call it a day. Not only should this content be written directly for humans, but it should also have local keywords weaved into it to directly show search engines, AI models and the actual humans reading it exactly the area you service.
For example, it could be the difference between putting “used car dealership” in your content and “used car dealership in Calgary, Alberta” if your store is located in Calgary, based on what users may be searching for, or something as simple as adding “in Toronto, ON” to your headers and in your title tags to send signals of your local content to said search engines and AI models, as well as attracting those around Toronto to your dealership.
In this way, it improves the likelihood your content pops up more often for those searching for dealerships in their area, which makes the likelihood of them stopping by your dealership, online and in person, and doing business with you that much higher. Be sure, though, to keep it natural, we want to properly represent the actual business area, and not overstuff with a ton of far away location keywords just because you think that will help it rank (spoiler alert: it won’t!). Keyword and location stuffing is a thing of the past for SEO.
Why Is it Important for Dealerships to Leverage Local SEO?
While the above are important to help your dealership put its best foot forward in the local search algorithm, Local SEO is based off a trio of key ranking factors:
- Distance: How close you are to the person’s location
- Prominence: How active of an online presence you have
- Relevance: How close your dealership matches the search criteria
While these are not always things you can control, like distance from a person’s location when they search, what you need to do is ensure all your local SEO ducks are in a row to give your dealership the best position possible to show up for your local customer searches.
Without local SEO, you hit the following roadblocks which can stop a lot of potential customers from turning into regular customers:
- You’re difficult to find (either because your online information is not accurate or is missing)
- Less traffic, meaning fewer people are interacting with your website services, and what leads you do have may be of sub-par quality
- You seem less trustworthy/aware of the needs of your customers
- Competitors who do local SEO strategy rank above you
How We at EDealer Can Help
At EDealer, we specialize in SEO services that make your dealership shine, and that includes Local SEO Services. Highlighted by our Local SEO Accelerate package, we will take on the full management and optimization of your Google Business Profile, from initial honing to ongoing updates including post updates, review responses, Q&A, spam fighting, citation management and more. Further, our content marketing packages, for both new vehicle and fixed operations-focused content will satisfy all of the local keyword inclusion your landing pages and blogs need to properly represent your business in your direct area. Trust in our packages to help you take advantage of Local SEO to gain more potential customers.
Sign up for Our Local SEO Services at EDealer
With our local SEO Services at EDealer, you make an investment into SEO that pays dividends over time in the form of increased ranking and organic traffic. Let us help you stand out from your competition and focus on what you do best: selling your vehicles! We’ll handle your local SEO needs, and can also assist you with further SEO Services to help boost your online presence and drive profitability, such as with our content marketing packages that can also help beef up your local SEO usage. Just get in touch with us, and we’ll help find the perfect solution for both your dealership and your budget in no time.